Setting Our Students Up For Success

Josephinum Academy of the Sacred Heart is proud to be the only all-girls independent high school in the Midwest to offer a wall-to-wall International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Programme. Starting their junior year, every Josephinum student will begin taking IB classes. This program further strengthens our overall curriculum and prepares our students for success in college and their future careers.

As a Sacred Heart school, Josephinum aims to develop holistic young women who not only strive for academic excellence, but who are also committed to personal growth, and are impelled to act against injustice and oppression. In the same regard, at the heart of the IB Organization’s mission is the desire to develop global, critical, and principled thinkers who will help create a more peaceful world.

The IB Diploma Program is a challenging and balanced academic program accessible to and appropriate for a broad band of abilities. The Diploma is taught over two years (junior and senior) and when students have completed the Diploma they are usually accepted to competitive universities around the world. Students are prepared and equipped with skills that differentiate them from their non-IB peers.

While the IB Diploma Programme curriculum is known for its rigor, it is designed to be accessible to all learners. At the core of the IB Diploma Programme is the desire to teach students how to think, not what to think, and as a result, the curriculum is structured around the development of core competencies and skills, rather than heavy content knowledge. In addition, IB lessons take a hands-on approach, positioning the learner as a “doer,” engaging her more fully in her own learning.